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abovegrounds2016-04-01 10:14 pm
undergroundmods) wrote in abovegrounds2016-04-01 10:14 pm
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The Night Council Election and You
The candidates for the Night Council election have now been announced! The election campaign will take place through April until the election itself on 5th May. This post outlines the election process and how you can get involved.
Summary
Every two years the Night Council officially elects its highest-ranking seats. Four seats are up for grabs with competing candidates: President, Vice President, Witch Representative and Shapeshifter/Meta Human Representative. The fifth, Vampire Representative, only has one candidate standing so Millicent will be automatically re-elected without a vote.
Whether or not you can vote for any of the candidates depends on who you are and what faction you belong to:
• If you are a member of the Night Council or Redbright Institute, you can vote for the President, Vice President and Shapeshifter/Meta Human Representative.
• If you are a member of Circle Daybreak, you can vote for the President, Vice President and Witch Representative.
• If you are a member of the East End Pack or Islington Nest, you can vote for the President and Vice President.
• If you are a member of the Hillingdon Clan or a shapeshifter or meta human in any faction, you can vote for the Shapeshifter/Meta Human Representative.
• If you are a member of Circle Midnight or Seelie/Unseelie Court, you can't vote for anyone. Democracy!
You must also be at least 18 years old to vote.
The Campaign
The election campaign will take place throughout April. Naturally, the candidates are only interested in winning the hearts of those who can actually vote for them, so campaign activity will vary in different areas.
The heaviest level of campaigning will take place in Night Council, Redbright Institute and Circle Daybreak territories. If you live in this area, you are likely to be bombarded with leaflets, flyers, emails, invitations to community events and campaign volunteers knocking on your door to try and persuade you to vote for their candidate of choice. The final hustings will take place on 29th April in Westminster, where all the candidates will gather to take questions from the supernatural community at large.
There will be some campaigning in Islington Nest territories, although here only the bravest volunteers dare knock on the door of a vampire nest to try and win their vote. Millicent fully encourages eating any volunteer who annoys you, so most of them shove a flyer through the letter box and run.
Only the Shapeshifter/Meta Human candidates have any reason to visit Hillingdon, so activity there will be fairly muted. Similarly, Circle Midnight territory will be largely ignored. As of 28th April, there will be a last minute rush to East End Pack territory since the announcement that they will be able to vote in the election.
Witches, meta humans and shapeshifters living in Seelie/Unseelie Court territory are likely to be contacted by email or other remote means rather than in person as no one wants to risk pissing off the fae. Any dealings with the Seelie/Unseelie are likely to be around damage control. No one wants a mouthy fae slagging off their candidate.
The election process is of course completely fair and in no way open to corruption or vote rigging.
The Election
The election itself will take place on 5th May. Each seat is treated as its own separate vote, so you will be given up to four different cards to vote on. You will be asked which faction you belong to and what species you are in order to determine which cards you are given. For example, if you are a vampire in the Islington Nest, you will be given a President card and a Vice President card.
Polling stations will be set up as follows:
• Circle Daybreak, Redbright Institute and Night Council territories all have at least one polling station per borough. The Redbright Institute itself is one of the polling stations. They are all set up by witches with a truth-telling spell so that no one who steps over the threshold may lie about their identity. The volunteers manning the polling stations are a mixture of witches, meta humans and other members of these three factions. They will check who you are in order to make sure you are given the right voting cards.
• Islington Nest territories have one polling station per borough. These are manned by vampires. They only have President and Vice President voting cards, so the assumption is that you're a member of the Nest and you can only vote for these candidates. Anyone else who tries to sneak in is fair game to be eaten.
• Hillingdon has one lonely polling station set up at Hillingdon House itself and staffed by witches. They only have Shapeshifter/Meta Human Representative cards to vote with, so the assumption is that you're only eligible to vote for this candidate. They don't expect to see a lot of traffic so they mostly hang around looking bored. On the other hand they don't bother checking who you are either.
• The East End Pack has a single polling station in a small church in Greenwich, set up by Millicent, the Vampire Representative and leader of the Islington Nest. It is staffed by a gang of extremely hostile vampires whose presence is intended to intimidate and discourage potential voters.
• There are no polling stations in any other boroughs. So if you live in Seelie/Unseelie territory and you're eligible to vote, you'll have to do some travelling.
The Results
To keep things interesting, the election winners will not be announced until the actual IC date of the election results: 6th May. However, please note that although characters will vote ICly, there will not be an OOC voting process as such. I will decide on the election results.
The results will be decided based on a combination of IC and OOC factors: IC activity by campaigning characters, bribes, vote rigging. Incumbent candidates will start off with an advantage. Otherwise all characters, whether player characters or NPCs, are on an even playing field.
There is no guarantee that any particular character will win. Even Sylvia could lose her seat. The actions of player characters over the next month will influence the results. (Before you get too excited, I'm not going to let Alfie Baxter become President. Sorry guys.)
Getting Involved
There are a number of ways to take part in the election process:
Run a campaign!
Is there a candidate you really want to support? Even if you can't vote yourself, you can still influence others to vote for them by running or taking part in a campaign on their behalf. For example, you could become a volunteer and go knocking on doors/leafleting/wear a badge to declare your support. You can campaign on behalf of player characters or NPCs.
Run a smear campaign!
Wait, maybe there's a candidate you really don't like. Even if you can't vote for them, you can still destroy their reputation, right? Badmouth them to everyone, heckle them at events, stage a protest. You could even blackmail or threaten them. All's fair in love, war and politics.
Bribe a candidate
Well... maybe bribe is a strong word. Perhaps you'd like to offer support to your candidate of choice, but you want something in return. It could be a new policy, a law change, or a promise to support your faction. For this month only, you can make a bribe without spending any activity points.
Rig the vote
Yeah, so that thing about no vote rigging. Kind of a lie. If you have enough cash/influence and you know the right people, you might just be able to rig certain votes in your preferred candidate's favour. If you would like to do this, you will need to spend 6 activity points (the equivalent of a bribe).
Protest!
So... this whole democratic election thing isn't very democratic, is it? You may have noticed this by now, especially if you've been denied a vote. You could sit around complaining, or you could do something about it. Stage a protest, run a petition, set up a picket line outside the Night Council and refuse to leave. Anything to get your voice heard. Sadly, protests will make no difference to the election results.
Make a bet
If you fancy making some money out of the election campaign, you can always have your character bet on the results. Bookies' odds are given with the list of candidates. These odds may change over the month as events develop. This won't affect the results at all, it's just a bit of fun.
Volunteer at a polling station
If you're a member of the Night Council, Redbright Institute, Islington Nest or Circle Daybreak, you could volunteer to work at one of the polling stations and count the votes. It's an important job that will only be given to characters who are trusted by the powers-that-be.
Vote!
And finally, of course, if you are eligible you can play out your character voting. However, individual character votes will make no difference to the election results.
Questions
If my character is involved in vote rigging, could they go to jail? Will anyone find out?
The default answer to this is no. Any vote rigging/corruption etc will not be exposed for the time being. It could be exposed in the future in order to provide an IC justification for a player character who drops/is demoted to lose their position, or for a player character to replace one of the Night Council members. If this does happen and your character was involved, it's up to you whether you want them to get caught and subsequently charged.
My character believes in Justice and would investigate this sort of thing!
You poor thing. Sadly, corruption is rife and your character will find themselves road-blocked at every juncture even if they did suspect that illegal or underhand activity was going on. If and when there is an opportunity to expose corruption in order to demote/promote someone, then there would be opportunity to plot around that further down the line.
My character is in Circle Midnight/the East End Pack/Seelie/Unseelie Court and this is bullshit.
Sucks to be you! However, while your character is ICly denied a vote, they can still make a difference to the results through campaigning/vote rigging/bribery if they so choose. For example, you could try to get a candidate elected who would be sympathetic to your faction in the future, or make a deal to support a candidate in return for a law change that favours your faction.
My character is a vampire and this is bullshit.
Also sucks to be you! Literally. For Islington vampires who wish to join the Night Council in future, you'll need to sharpen your stakes first and stab Millicent in the heart.
The entire system is corrupt and my character wants to change it! What can I do?
There are two things you can do. One, you can support a candidate who wants to make the changes that you want, if there is such a candidate. And two, you can bribe them to make the changes that you want. A bribe doesn't necessarily mean that money has to change hands; you could make a promise to support the candidate of your choice in return for a political favour. The East End Pack might want to ask for werewolves to be represented on the Night Council, for example.
My character is human, can they vote or take part in the campaign process?
Yes, they can campaign! They can also vote if they are a member of one of the eligible factions.
Can my character vote illegally/spoil their vote?
You can try and you'll probably get away with it too, but it will make no difference to the outcome. If you want to influence the vote on a wider scale, you'll have to resort to vote rigging.
Hang on, isn't this supposed to be a UK-wide election?
It is indeed. For the sake of convenience, I have only described the campaigning that will go on in London, but ICly the rest of the country will be voting too and the candidates will travel outside London to try and win those votes.
Summary
Every two years the Night Council officially elects its highest-ranking seats. Four seats are up for grabs with competing candidates: President, Vice President, Witch Representative and Shapeshifter/Meta Human Representative. The fifth, Vampire Representative, only has one candidate standing so Millicent will be automatically re-elected without a vote.
Whether or not you can vote for any of the candidates depends on who you are and what faction you belong to:
• If you are a member of the Night Council or Redbright Institute, you can vote for the President, Vice President and Shapeshifter/Meta Human Representative.
• If you are a member of Circle Daybreak, you can vote for the President, Vice President and Witch Representative.
• If you are a member of the East End Pack or Islington Nest, you can vote for the President and Vice President.
• If you are a member of the Hillingdon Clan or a shapeshifter or meta human in any faction, you can vote for the Shapeshifter/Meta Human Representative.
• If you are a member of Circle Midnight or Seelie/Unseelie Court, you can't vote for anyone. Democracy!
You must also be at least 18 years old to vote.
The Campaign
The election campaign will take place throughout April. Naturally, the candidates are only interested in winning the hearts of those who can actually vote for them, so campaign activity will vary in different areas.
The heaviest level of campaigning will take place in Night Council, Redbright Institute and Circle Daybreak territories. If you live in this area, you are likely to be bombarded with leaflets, flyers, emails, invitations to community events and campaign volunteers knocking on your door to try and persuade you to vote for their candidate of choice. The final hustings will take place on 29th April in Westminster, where all the candidates will gather to take questions from the supernatural community at large.
There will be some campaigning in Islington Nest territories, although here only the bravest volunteers dare knock on the door of a vampire nest to try and win their vote. Millicent fully encourages eating any volunteer who annoys you, so most of them shove a flyer through the letter box and run.
Only the Shapeshifter/Meta Human candidates have any reason to visit Hillingdon, so activity there will be fairly muted. Similarly, Circle Midnight territory will be largely ignored. As of 28th April, there will be a last minute rush to East End Pack territory since the announcement that they will be able to vote in the election.
Witches, meta humans and shapeshifters living in Seelie/Unseelie Court territory are likely to be contacted by email or other remote means rather than in person as no one wants to risk pissing off the fae. Any dealings with the Seelie/Unseelie are likely to be around damage control. No one wants a mouthy fae slagging off their candidate.
The election process is of course completely fair and in no way open to corruption or vote rigging.
The Election
The election itself will take place on 5th May. Each seat is treated as its own separate vote, so you will be given up to four different cards to vote on. You will be asked which faction you belong to and what species you are in order to determine which cards you are given. For example, if you are a vampire in the Islington Nest, you will be given a President card and a Vice President card.
Polling stations will be set up as follows:
• Circle Daybreak, Redbright Institute and Night Council territories all have at least one polling station per borough. The Redbright Institute itself is one of the polling stations. They are all set up by witches with a truth-telling spell so that no one who steps over the threshold may lie about their identity. The volunteers manning the polling stations are a mixture of witches, meta humans and other members of these three factions. They will check who you are in order to make sure you are given the right voting cards.
• Islington Nest territories have one polling station per borough. These are manned by vampires. They only have President and Vice President voting cards, so the assumption is that you're a member of the Nest and you can only vote for these candidates. Anyone else who tries to sneak in is fair game to be eaten.
• Hillingdon has one lonely polling station set up at Hillingdon House itself and staffed by witches. They only have Shapeshifter/Meta Human Representative cards to vote with, so the assumption is that you're only eligible to vote for this candidate. They don't expect to see a lot of traffic so they mostly hang around looking bored. On the other hand they don't bother checking who you are either.
• The East End Pack has a single polling station in a small church in Greenwich, set up by Millicent, the Vampire Representative and leader of the Islington Nest. It is staffed by a gang of extremely hostile vampires whose presence is intended to intimidate and discourage potential voters.
• There are no polling stations in any other boroughs. So if you live in Seelie/Unseelie territory and you're eligible to vote, you'll have to do some travelling.
The Results
To keep things interesting, the election winners will not be announced until the actual IC date of the election results: 6th May. However, please note that although characters will vote ICly, there will not be an OOC voting process as such. I will decide on the election results.
The results will be decided based on a combination of IC and OOC factors: IC activity by campaigning characters, bribes, vote rigging. Incumbent candidates will start off with an advantage. Otherwise all characters, whether player characters or NPCs, are on an even playing field.
There is no guarantee that any particular character will win. Even Sylvia could lose her seat. The actions of player characters over the next month will influence the results. (Before you get too excited, I'm not going to let Alfie Baxter become President. Sorry guys.)
Getting Involved
There are a number of ways to take part in the election process:
Run a campaign!
Is there a candidate you really want to support? Even if you can't vote yourself, you can still influence others to vote for them by running or taking part in a campaign on their behalf. For example, you could become a volunteer and go knocking on doors/leafleting/wear a badge to declare your support. You can campaign on behalf of player characters or NPCs.
Run a smear campaign!
Wait, maybe there's a candidate you really don't like. Even if you can't vote for them, you can still destroy their reputation, right? Badmouth them to everyone, heckle them at events, stage a protest. You could even blackmail or threaten them. All's fair in love, war and politics.
Bribe a candidate
Well... maybe bribe is a strong word. Perhaps you'd like to offer support to your candidate of choice, but you want something in return. It could be a new policy, a law change, or a promise to support your faction. For this month only, you can make a bribe without spending any activity points.
Rig the vote
Yeah, so that thing about no vote rigging. Kind of a lie. If you have enough cash/influence and you know the right people, you might just be able to rig certain votes in your preferred candidate's favour. If you would like to do this, you will need to spend 6 activity points (the equivalent of a bribe).
Protest!
So... this whole democratic election thing isn't very democratic, is it? You may have noticed this by now, especially if you've been denied a vote. You could sit around complaining, or you could do something about it. Stage a protest, run a petition, set up a picket line outside the Night Council and refuse to leave. Anything to get your voice heard. Sadly, protests will make no difference to the election results.
Make a bet
If you fancy making some money out of the election campaign, you can always have your character bet on the results. Bookies' odds are given with the list of candidates. These odds may change over the month as events develop. This won't affect the results at all, it's just a bit of fun.
Volunteer at a polling station
If you're a member of the Night Council, Redbright Institute, Islington Nest or Circle Daybreak, you could volunteer to work at one of the polling stations and count the votes. It's an important job that will only be given to characters who are trusted by the powers-that-be.
Vote!
And finally, of course, if you are eligible you can play out your character voting. However, individual character votes will make no difference to the election results.
Questions
If my character is involved in vote rigging, could they go to jail? Will anyone find out?
The default answer to this is no. Any vote rigging/corruption etc will not be exposed for the time being. It could be exposed in the future in order to provide an IC justification for a player character who drops/is demoted to lose their position, or for a player character to replace one of the Night Council members. If this does happen and your character was involved, it's up to you whether you want them to get caught and subsequently charged.
My character believes in Justice and would investigate this sort of thing!
You poor thing. Sadly, corruption is rife and your character will find themselves road-blocked at every juncture even if they did suspect that illegal or underhand activity was going on. If and when there is an opportunity to expose corruption in order to demote/promote someone, then there would be opportunity to plot around that further down the line.
My character is in Circle Midnight/the East End Pack/Seelie/Unseelie Court and this is bullshit.
Sucks to be you! However, while your character is ICly denied a vote, they can still make a difference to the results through campaigning/vote rigging/bribery if they so choose. For example, you could try to get a candidate elected who would be sympathetic to your faction in the future, or make a deal to support a candidate in return for a law change that favours your faction.
My character is a vampire and this is bullshit.
Also sucks to be you! Literally. For Islington vampires who wish to join the Night Council in future, you'll need to sharpen your stakes first and stab Millicent in the heart.
The entire system is corrupt and my character wants to change it! What can I do?
There are two things you can do. One, you can support a candidate who wants to make the changes that you want, if there is such a candidate. And two, you can bribe them to make the changes that you want. A bribe doesn't necessarily mean that money has to change hands; you could make a promise to support the candidate of your choice in return for a political favour. The East End Pack might want to ask for werewolves to be represented on the Night Council, for example.
My character is human, can they vote or take part in the campaign process?
Yes, they can campaign! They can also vote if they are a member of one of the eligible factions.
Can my character vote illegally/spoil their vote?
You can try and you'll probably get away with it too, but it will make no difference to the outcome. If you want to influence the vote on a wider scale, you'll have to resort to vote rigging.
Hang on, isn't this supposed to be a UK-wide election?
It is indeed. For the sake of convenience, I have only described the campaigning that will go on in London, but ICly the rest of the country will be voting too and the candidates will travel outside London to try and win those votes.
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